Waris Dirie, born in 1965, is a Somali models author, actress and social activist. From 1997 to 2003, she served as a US Special Ambassador.
Waris was born into a nomadic (游牧的) family in 1965 in Galkayo, Somalia. At 13, she fled to Mogadishu to escape an arranged marriage to a much older man. Waris along with a few relatives later moved to London, where she worked for an uncle who had been appointed Somali ambassador. When his term ended, Waris remained in the city and held a job at a local McDonald’s, where she was discovered by photographer Terence Donovan. Since then, her modeling career took off, appearing in advertisements for top brands such as Chanel, Levi’s, and L’Oreal.
In 1997, at the height of her modeling career, Waris spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the women’s magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation (FGM) (割礼) that she had undergone as a child. From then on, she abandoned her modeling career to focus on her work against FGM. That same year, she was appointed the UN Special Ambassador for the
Elimination of FGM.
In 1998, Waris authored her first book, Desert Flower, an autobiography that went on to become an international bestseller. In 2009, a feature-length film based on Desert Flower was released, with the Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede playing her.
In 2002, she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organization aimed at raising awareness regarding the dangers surrounding FGM. Waris followed that in January 2009 with the establishment of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights. Waris has also started the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia, and supports the Zeitz Foundation, an organization focused on sustainable development and conservation.
In 2010, Waris was appointed Peace Ambassador for the Year of Peace and Security by the African Union.
【小题1】What is the correct order of the following events that happened to Waris Dirie?
a. wrote her first book.
b. established the PPR Foundation.
c. moved to London with some relatives.
d. became a UN ambassador for the abolition, of FGM.
【小题2】What is the possible meaning of the underlined word “
Elimination” in Paragraph Three?
A.control | B.start |
C.end | D.approval |
【小题3】Which of the following foundations was not founded by Waris Dirie?
A.the PPR Foundation | B.the Zeitz Foundation |
C.the Desert Dawn Foundation | D.the Desert Flower Foundation |
【小题4】What may be the best title of the passage?
A.Waris Dirie-a Lucky Woman | B.Waris Dirie-a Famous Model |
C.Waris Dirie- a UN Ambassador | D.Waris Dirie-a Desert Flower |